University of Iowa will see construction boom in 2023

IOWA CITY — Construction of a University of Iowa inpatient tower on its main medical campus — first unveiled in January as part of a 10-year master plan — is expected to start just two years, in 2025.

And in 2023, the UI will kick start hundreds of millions of dollars in construction to either enable that massive project or propel a west campus transformation for expanded health care access, increased academic opportunities and amplified athletic experiences.

“It’s an exciting time to be a Hawkeye and to witness the campus transformation that will take place beginning in 2023,” according to a UI summary of the work to ensue. “Projects will include state-of-the-art buildings, equipment, learning spaces, and other amenities.”

Crews will begin or continue work on a new parking ramp; a larger water tower; a new west campus academic building; a renovated Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Building; the inpatient addition in the UI hospital’s south wing; and an expanded emergency room.

UI Hospitals and Clinics also is planning a $95 million “vertical expansion” of its existing main-campus inpatient tower — adding two floors, 24 intensive care unit beds and more patient space on renovated floors below.

The university plans to finish that vertical expansion in 2025, just as it starts building the new tower. Although officials haven’t yet sought Board of Regents design or budget approval, they recently revealed through a facilities master plan expectations to spend $620.9 million on the new tower over the next five budget years.

“The tower will add more beds for UI Hospitals & Clinics, which is consistently at or above capacity,” according to the UI summary. “The additional space will significantly improve operations and help the hospital to continue providing access and care for complex patients who come from every county in Iowa.”

Officials warned all the construction could cause some “short-term disruption for students, faculty, staff, patients, and visitors.”

“As with any major construction project, we will put a high priority on minimizing the impact for our campus community, patients, and visitors,” Rod Lehnertz, senior vice president for finance and operations and university architect, said in a statement. “These temporary inconveniences are enabling an exciting campus transformation that will benefit generations to come.”

The west campus construction comes in addition to massive projects UIHC is pursuing off its main campus — like a $525.6 million hospital campus in North Liberty, at Forevergreen Road and Highway 965. That project is expected to wrap in 2025, alongside many of the enabling and transformative west-side projects.

Big changes

Projects upcoming or in the works include:

To make all that happen, among other things, UI over the next five years plans to raze 300,000 square feet of dated or defunct space — including its Hospital Parking Ramp 1, current Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Center and the South Quad dorms. The university has taken down 200,000 square feet over the last three years in trying to “right size” its campus.

Infrastructure upgrades

Among westside infrastructure and equipment-related projects upcoming are three totaling nearly $13 million, approved in some capacity at regents meetings in September and November.

In anticipation of the UIHC-associated construction, administrators in September sought regent approval to move forward with the second phase of a “UIHC Emergency Generator Facility” project. Just the second phase to construct a 10,000-square-foot addition to the existing emergency power generation facility is expected to cost nearly $45 million. A third phase would add a third generator, and the fourth phase would add another facility “to support emergency power generators for the new UIHC inpatient tower.”

“Funding for this project has been long-planned within the hospital’s capital and operating budgets and this project is already incorporated into the financial models and operating margins,” according to board documents.

UI officials report projects will be funded with a mix of donor dollars, state support, hospital revenue and other sources — including athletics income for the handful of Hawkeye athletics projects also materializing on the campus’ west side.

Those include a new $31.6 million Hawkeye wrestling facility, $5.8 million upgrade to UI’s recreation fields, a $20 million renovation of Duane Banks Field and possible upgrades to its softball, field hockey and track and field complexes.

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